In as much as I’d thought at all about who might read the book I had assumed they would be readers from the UK – but I wasn’t counting on the social media revolution which means that now, readers of the book are as likely to be from Tennessee as Tunbridge Wells.

It’s been a delight for me that kind and generous book-lovers in far-flung parts, people who have come across me on Twitter and Facebook and here on this blog, have taken a look at Sea God and decided that it’s for them.

It’s a curious thrill to think people are sitting down to read the words I wrote in parts of the world I have never visited. Let’s face it, my book is better travelled than I am.

I’m not just an unknown author in this country – I’m internationally unknown.

What these non domestic readers will make of Sea God is anybody’s guess. I sincerely hope they like it. I suppose in many ways it’s quite a British book. Not only because it was written by a British person but because the setting is clearly in Northern England. The language in the book is slangy and colloquial in a way which might either confuse or delight a reader from the USA or Australia, depending how open they are to voices they don’t normally hear.

If you are the sort of person who, for example, claims not to be able to understand anyone from ‘abroad’ because they have a funny accent then Sea God is probably not for you. My book has a funny accent.

If on the other hand, you are the sort of open-minded character who is willing to go with the flow, accept things which are different and read in an intuitive way then there’s a good chance you will get it. Yours is the world, and everything that’s in it, and what is more, you are my kind of reader.

Let me know what you think about Song of the Sea God, I would be delighted to hear from you!

Thanks Autumn – that was a really nice comment! Yes Trainspotting was amazing – I had to read bits aloud too, but it was a pleasure to do so. I don’t think many people have managed to capture the rhythms of everyday speech and regional accent the way Welsh did in that book. You are right – compared to that mine’s a doddle to read.

The unique turns of phrase is my favourite aspect of your book, especially during some of the exchanges in the pub. In places, the dialogue reminds me of parts of Kingsley Amis’ The Old Devils in the way the characters consider each other. When you first learn that one of The Old Devils’ protagonists is going to The Bible, you assume the outing is going to be an thoroughly religious affair, but turns out to be a pub. I love the fact that the pub in Song of the Sea God is called The Vengeance. There’s something openly ironic about it, like naming a cat Kevin.

There’s a street in Barrow called Vengeance Street, which is named after a ship like the pub is in the book so that’s where that came from. Funny you should mention cats called Kevin because there’s a dog called Colin later in the book!

Isn’t it wonderful knowing that someone is sitting in a foreign field wondering what the hell you book is all about! A friend bought my book, read in on a plane and left it in bookswap (a disused fridge) in New Zealand. I’d love to know where it went from there.